Our concerts come about through all sorts of connections. We were recommended to Trio Chuva as a venue that might work for them, by the lovely Bonnie Schwarz of Good Habits. They sent us an email, we liked the sound of them on the youtube videos they shared and found a date that worked for us both. We normally like to have seen an act live – if only to see how good they are at engaging with an audience. But something told us these guys were going to be alright…..
Well, as soon as they arrived we knew it was going to be a good one. Lovely friendly young men who had a great chemistry and told a good story. Then they started to play and whilst they had great technical ability, years of classical training at the RNCM hadn’t knocked the personality out of them.
A packed house. Sold out again, with a nice mixture of regulars and newbies. And we were all treated to two sets of fabulous tunes, many from Eastern Europe originally, with each introduced by one of the band.
Rafael Onyett (guitar) and Borna Kuca (mandolin and guitar) had each been in a duo but were musically drawn to each other. Borna’s musical partner moved to the continent but with the possibility that he might return. Rafael’s partner moved to Mexico. So Rafael and Borna got together. Raf’s duo – Duo Chuva – had sort of become just Chuva. They decided to keep the name so Duo Chuva was reborn. Then a little while later they were joined by George and became (naturally) Trio Chuva.
Raf introduces Death of an Angel, which features all sorts of percussive sounds.
The audience reaction to the band was incredible. Everyone fell in love with the music and the musicians. They in turn fed off the audience – with big smiles on their faces as the audience erupted at the end of each tune.
Simon managed to record most of both sets, on two phones, positioned at very different angles. So we’ve been spoilt for video footage for once. This next one shows a different angle and features two tunes from the second set.
It’s always nice to get hold of the set list, so thank you Borna, for sending us this:
First set:
Zajdi Zajdi
Pajdushka
Kaspasko Oro
Gnossiene No.1 (Satie)
Oblivion (Piazzolla)
Zita (Piazzolla)
Second set:
Vuprem Oci
La Muerte Del Angel (Piazzolla)
Ajde Dali Znaes Pametis Milice
Gankino Oro
Macedonian Girl
Gajdarsko Oro
Encore:
Sarajevo Nights
Many of the songs were interpretations of folk tunes from Croatia, Bulgaria and the like but there were pieces by Piazzolla and Satie too. A perfect mix of upbeat and more mellow tunes that showed off all their skills.
There was no merch to promote, but Trio Chuva are hoping to get into the studio in March and we’ll definitely be promoting the fruits of this as soon as we have details.
The obligatory post gig shot in the kitchen…this time wearing the hats!
The food was brought to us by Bev (who sadly couldn’t stay for the music, even though she’d been looking forward to it for weeks). Roasted celeriac steaks with paprika sauce, new potatoes and greens. It was all delicious but the paprika sauce was to die for!
Ryepiece Concerts 